News 97-09-30

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Where in the dickens did September go? ========== I got a post yesterday from Kim Hight telling me that Michael and Buffy Waltrip had a baby girl yesterday morning. Margaret Carol Waltrip was born at 6:38 am. (Jayski) We'd like to wish Michael, Buffy, and Margaret the very best from NASCARFans.

Waltrip had a tough time in the race. He started 27th, spun out in the first and second turns on the 201st lap, then backed into the wall trying to turn around. His day ended when he hit the wall in turn four on lap 449.

``The brakes just went out. I don't know why,'' he said. ``I didn't have any warning all day long, and it finally went all the way to the floor.'' (Charlotte.Com) ========== From the AP: Rusty "Wallace was forced to make a stop-and-go pit stop after NASCAR ruled he had jumped the gun on the restart to begin the 478th lap. After leading 220 laps in what was clearly the strongest car, he wound up finishing 15th. 'They rule it, and they can do what they want,' Wallace said of NASCAR. 'I'm going to talk to them a little bit about it, because I've got a feeling who it was. The guy has had a grudge for me for a long time, and I'm going to go talk to him. This is ridiculous. I've never seen nothing like it.' He did not name the NASCAR official to whom he was referring."(AP) (information from Jayski)

``We had told his crew on the past two cautions to watch his restarts,'' NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said.

NASCAR was watching, and before Wallace's car got to Turn 1 it had officials on the radio ordering him in for a stop-and-go penalty.

``No, I didn't jump the start,'' said Wallace, who wound up 15th despite leading 220 laps. ``How can you jump the start when you're the leader? I was the leader.'' (Charlotte.Com) ========== During the race and RPM2Nite it was announced that the Family Channel will not return to the #16 Ted Musgrave driven/Roush owned Ford, this we knew, but it was also announced that Primestar signed a one-year deal to return to the team in 1998 (Jayski) ========== Martinsville Speedway is supposed to be adding 28 more rows of seating to the front stretch grand stands for the spring race 1998. This will add eight to ten thousand seats and track officials trying to work out a way to move the railroad tracks to add more seating to the back stretch also (Jayski) ========== Michael Kranefuss, owner of the #37 KMart Ford "says his talks with (Roger)Penske (owner of the #2 Lite Ford) about a joint effort as car owners next season on the Winston Cup tour are still just that, talk; but talk that Kranefuss says could lead to something important."(JournalNow/Jayski) ========== Here's a good one I got a chuckle out of:

Bill Elliott ran a decal on the #94 McDonald's Ford celebrating 50th anniversary of the CIA. Asked why ,crew chief Mike Beam said they're hoping to get more information on the new Ford Taurus. (Jayski) ========== The new Bill Davis BGN team that will field Amoco Pontiacs for Dave Blaney will be the #93 after 93 Octane Amoco gas. Gil Martin will crew chief and run the team. They will also run some ARCA events to help familiarize Blaney with the Winston Cup tracks that BGN does not run with an eye at moving up to WC in 1999 as a second team car to the #22 (Jayski) ========== Gil Martin also helped out the #22 MBNA team with the setup at Martinsville and Ward Burton got the pole. Let's see Gil was the crew chief of the #81 Kenny Wallace driven Square-D Ford who won a pole in the spring at.....Martinsville (Jayski) ========== OK, here's the results from the latest in a continuing series of polls <g>....

The question: Are the NASCARFans news posts just right, too long, or too short?

Here's the stats as of 7:10AM edt:

298 total responses out of about 4000 subscribers - about 7.5 %. 250 say it's just right - about 84% of total responses 36 say it's too much - about 12% of total responses 12 say it's too short - about 4% of total responses

Like I said yesterday, I know I can't please everyone, but at least the poll shows I'm pleasing most of you by about a seven to one margin. Thanks for your responses, and for the very kind compliments some of you gave. ========== A special thanks to Cliff Maurand, who had some e-mail suggestions for me. ========== Dale Earnhardt's second straight second-place finish came on a good, but busy day for the seven-time series champion.

Earnhardt changed quickly after the race, then boarded a helicopter for his annual open house at his Chevrolet dealership in Newton, N.C.

Since his still unexplained blackout at the start of the Southern 500 in Darlington, Earnhardt has been finishing progressively stronger. He was 15th at Richmond, eighth at New Hampshire and second the last two weeks.

''The aliens took me up in a space ship at Darlington and straightened me out, and I'm running better, aren't I?'' Earnhardt said. ''And I started drinking plain water, instead of all those power juices and all that junk."

A crowd of about 15,000 was expected for the open house, where some of the black No. 3 cars were on display and team merchandise was for sale.

Besides Earnhardt, drivers Steve Park, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also were going to be available to sign autographs for fans. (Charlotte.Com) ========== When Ward Burton won the pole for the Hanes 500 in his Pontiac, it marked the first year since 1992 that a Roush Racing driver has not won at least one short-track pole. Burton also became the 17th different pole-sitter this season, tying the modern NASCAR record set in 1994. (Charlotte.Com) ==========

Mike Irwin (mailto:mike@nascarfans.com) NASCAR Fans _______________________________________ NASCAR Fans Website http://www.nascarfans.com

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